Fire-escape.



H. M. ERWIN.

FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION ElLED MAR. 30. 1915.

Patented July 11, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented-July 11,1916;

To all whom it may concern Be it known that'I, HORACE M. ERWIN, acitizen of the United States, residing atFort Payne, in the county ofDekalb and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Fire-Escapes; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains' tomake and usethe same. 7

This invention relates to fire escapes and one of the principal objectsof the invention is to provide a frictional device of simpleconstruction for lowering a person to the ground from an upper window incase of fire, said friction device being provided with suitable frictionbrakes and adapted to lower a person slowly or more rapidly to theground.

The foregoing and other objects may be attained by means of theconstruction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1is a front elevation of a building and showing a fire escape and aperson lowering himself to the ground on said escape, said fire escapebeing made in accordance with this invention, Fig. 2 is a side elevationof the frictional device for lowering the person to the ground, Fig. 3is a vertical sectional view of the same, Fig. 4. is a verticalsectional view of the friction device taken at right angles to Fig. 3,Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the harness to be worn by the persondescending by the fire escape, Fig. 6 is a fragmental front elevationillustrating the application of the spring for supporting the operatinglever in a horizontal position.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates a rope having at oneend a snap hook and a ring 2 adapted to be connected to a bed post orother article of furniture within a room. The friction device throughwhich the rope 1 extends comprises the metal side members 3 connectedtogether by suitable rivets 4, and mounted between the two side members3 are friction sheaves '0 comprising grooved blocks held rigidly inplace between the two side members 3 upon bolts or rivets 6. Thefriction blocks 5 are disposed in difierent vertical planes, as shownmore clearly in Fig. 3 of the drawings, and the rope 1 being wreathedabout said blocks exerts a frictional bearing on the rope. At one sideof the casing is a cam lever 7 pivoted at 8 and provided with anenlarged head 9. The lever 7 is held in a positionout'ofcontact with therope 1 by means ofa spring 10; A friction plate 11 is secured within thecasing to bear upon one side ofthe rope when the lever 7 is throwninto-position 'to engage the :rope. i

l At one 'ide' 'f-the 'ca'singis a handle'12 pivoted at 13to suitablelugs 2. 14; extending out from the side of the casing. The handle 12 is'provided with aT-head 15"forminga "convenient handhold.

At the opposite'side 'of the casing from the handle 12 is a camlever 16pivoted at 17 to lugs 18 extending out from the casing and said leverbeing provided with an enlarged head 19. The casing is provided with anopening 20, and the head 19 when the lever is thrown down, enters theopening 20 and bears against the rope 1 to force it against a frictionplate 21 secured within the casing by rivets 22. The side plates 3 areconnected by plates a and b.

A ring 23, said ring depending from the lower end of the friction devicein convenient position, has the snap hook 24 con nected thereto. Thesnap hook 24 is connected to a plate 25 having loops 26 to which theends of a rope 27 are connected. A short length of rope 28 is providedwith snap hooks 29 at the ends thereof and said snap hooks are adaptedto engage ring 30 spaced apart and connected to the rope 27. A cen tralring 31 is connected to the rope 27 and the short rope 28 extendsthrough said ring or buckle, thus providing a harness for the persondesiring to use the fire escape.

The manner of using the device may be briefly described as follows: Whenthe rope 1 is connected to a piece of furniture by the ring 2 and snaphooks, the ropeis passed into the friction device and around thefriction blocks 5, and the person desiring to use the fire escape passeshis legs through the loops 0 between the rope 27 and the rope 28 and thesnap hook 24: is connected to the ring 23. The user grasps the handle 15upon one side of the friction device and the lever 16 upon the oppositeside. The lever 7 is first turned against the rope to clamp it tightly,by frictional contact therewith, and after the person gets out of thewindow, the lever 16 is pulled down to tighten on the rope and the lever7 is then turned to relieve the rope. By use of the lever 16 any desiredfriction What' -is claimed is 5 'l blocks mounted in said casing,

the spirit and scope of-the invention as delined in the claim.-

A fire escape comprising a oasing,,,f riction r and adapteditoreeei-vearope, said casingprovided with a slot in the lower endthereof, a lever pivotally mounted: onsaid ca'sing and the inner end;thereof. extending intosaid casing, a

spring secured to the casing and extending partay'acro'ssthe'slot. andinto an engagementwith theunder side ofsaid'lever' to normally holdqthe'lever in a horizontal and inoperative positiom al-friction plat -securedtotheeasing opposite said slot, said-casing provided with a second slotat right angles 7 to the first mentioned slot, and at right angles tooneof' the friction blocks, a second friction plate secured to thecasing and at right angles to first mentioned friction plate, a handlever pivotally secured to the casing and adapted to engage the ropethrough the second mentioned slot and press it into engagement with thesecond mentioned friction plate and at right angles to first mentionedplate, and means for suspendinga; person to the casing.

'In, testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of .two-Witnesses.

I .1 HORACE M. ERWIN.

Witnesses: A I

I P.K.-STEVENSy R.-F .-Rosr.

.ofltlii s ia tentfmay beobtained for. five cents each, by addressingthe ffiommissioner of Patents, i washingtongnvfl r

